Quin Pinkten
Quin Pinkton is a mage working for the Magic Council in Bantia. currently acting as the head of their recognisance Division. Formerly a freelance news reporter, Quin prides herself in being able to find out anything about a person, acting more like a journalist rather than an elected official. While none can question her leadership abilities, she has been known to run her division of the council with a more lax attitude, rather than the stark, militaristic approach of her companions. She is highly skilled in the use of Shikigami Magic as a medium to spy on others and gather information, and has also developed a number of combat techniques since joining the council. Her nickname of Paper-thin Quin, while partly because the magic she uses, mainly comes from the fact that she isn't very good at disguising her true feelings from people. Appearance Quin is a thirty five year old woman who stands at five foot and ten inches tall. She has deep blue eyes pale skin that sunburns easily. Quin keeps her blue hair short, allowing her bangs to hang down between her eyes and frame her face. Lastly, she has a tattoo of a deep blue peacock feather running along the outside of her left thigh to her knee, another memento of her life before joining the Council. Even though she is a high ranking member of the Magic Council, Quin prefers a much more casual selection of outfits. Typically, she wears a white V-necked shirt with long sleeved and a high folded collar. She usually tucks this into a pair of black skinny jeans held up with a simple black belt around her waist. She has a small blue wallet on a strap that she hangs on her hip, and wears a pair of blue running shoes with white laces. Lastly, a memento from her time as a reporter, Quin wears a dark blue news cap wherever she goes and only takes it off when relaxing or off duty. Quin feels that a less militaristic appearance helps her in gathering information covertly, allowing her to hide in plain sight and blend into a crowd. Personality Quin has a strong sense of right and wrong, hence why she decided to make the jump from reporter to Council mage. She doesn’t like making decisions until she is comfortable that she has enough information, and hates having to make snap calls. She claims to not believe on no win situations, wholeheartedly believing that any obstacle can be overcome with enough preparation. While she has never experienced one before, it has been speculated that Quin would break down should one of her decisions lead to a large loss of life. Despite her rather lackluster résumé, Quin is a natural leader who prioritises the safety of her subordinates first and foremost. She performs her job in the fashion of a true reporter, and prides herself on being able to find any secret no matter how deep one may have buried it. Many at the Council describe Quin is fairly easy to work with, save for one person. While technically her superior, Quin never took too kindly to Payla’s abrupt promotion to chairmen ahead of her; causing the pair of them to butt heads on a number of occasions. Payla is dissatisfied with Quin’s occasionally unprofessional and ambitionless attitude, while Quin find’s Payla’s dominating personality and constent push for authority simply annoying. Due to an order from Zephyr Odinshire the both of them are forbidden from openly disagreeing with each other; forcing their work relationship down to simple passive aggressiveness. While serious when on duty, Quin’s personality completely changes in her down time. She becomes a lot more playful and somewhat immature, often playing pranks on her on her coworkers and underlings. Her favorite trick is learning an embarrassing secret about someone and threatening to reveal it to everyone, then she will simply sit back and watch the chaos that ensues. She would never actually reveal anyone’s secrets unless it is a very close friend, and even then it will only ever be something trivial. Her favorite person to tease is Isa Wondril, often threatening to reveal what color underwear she is wearing that day. It has also been hinted that Quin may have harbored romantic feelings for Isa when they worked together as Council mages. These may have subsided ever since Isa left the council, however when asked Quin will simply say that she “Isn’t sure yet”. Interestingly, given her choice of work, Quin isn’t very good at keeping her emotions hidden from others; hence the nickname “Paper-thin Quin”. She will quickly become flustered when faced with her own embarrassing situations, almost to the point of stuttering. Unfortunately with this comes an absolutely terrible ability to lie. She is skilled enough at deceiving people or manipulating the direction of a conversation, however she is almost completely unable to lie when asked about something pertaining to herself. Strangely, Quin seems to have no problem lying when conversing through her paper dolls, leading others to believe that her anxiety only emerges when talking with someone face to face. History Born and raised in Fiore, Quin quickly grew a reputation for being a mischievous child. She would always take it upon herself to “uncover” the private matters of others, often getting herself into trouble in the process. After getting into a number of dangerous situations, generally by uncovering criminal intentions, Quin began teaching herself to use magic to fight back; namely Shikigami Magic. Unfortunately her choice of magic didn’t really help her much in a fight, however it made spying on people much easier and it wasn’t long before Quin was scouted out by a local newspaper offering her a job. Though she started as an intern, Quin skill with magic gave her an incredible advantage over the other reporters. Soon she was deemed competent enough able to travel on her own and investigate at her own pace. Over the years one of her many ventures took her away from her home to the western country of Bantia on assignment, and Quin immediately fell in love with the land. The combination of tropical climates, untouched landscapes, and an expanding civilisation drew her in like nothing ever had before, and Quin immediately requested to be transferred there permanently. Slowly but surely, Quin established her own newspaper in Bantia and rose to become one of the most well-known publishers in the country. Despite her apparent success, Quin had grown board with simply reporting on events and became more interested in helping others using the knowledge she had uncovered. Because she was not an elected official however, she could not apprehend people based on her investigations and was openly barred from offering aid without a police presence. Realising that she often had the means and information to make a difference, and that the authority’s often acted too late to be of any help, Quin began considering vigilantism. Just when she was about to strike out on her own, Quin was approached by the Magic Council’s branch in Bantia and offered a job as one of their chef investigators. While she never really took to the military like soundings that accompanied her new position, Quin found being able to help people with her information much more pleasing than simply reporting on it. Quin soon partnered up with another mage while working at the Council, one Isa Wondril, and soom became close friends. Together the two of them worked to uncover a number of shady operations going on all over the country, and both seemed like obvious picks to become one of the Council’s chairman heading the recognisance division when the previous chairman passed on. In a completely unpredictable move however, the Council’s main branch decided to nominate their own representative to take up the division. Their representative, Payla Morsetty, was much stricter than Quin was used to, causing no small amount of friction between the two over the years. A few years later, Isa was forced to hold off the Council’s movements when Payla began targeting the mage guild run by Jaina Donwheel, Isa’s sister. Quin tried to do what she could to help, however she was out on assignment when it happened and was too late to save Isa’s career by the time she got back. Left with no other option, Isa left the council to be with her sister, leaving Quin as the division head under Payla. Using her newly granted authority, Quin now works closely with the other division heads, Hanna Andrews and Greg Artano, to keep the peace within Bantia’s boarders; all while dodging the political gridlock Payla often thrusts upon her. Magic and Abilities Shikigami Magic - Quin’s sole magic, which she has developed into an invaluable tool to collect information for the Magic Council. It allows Quin to summon and command a vast army of Shikigami, or paper dolls, to do her bidding. Though not necessarily styled for combat, Quin has crafted a number of spells to defend herself in a fight; or at the very least by herself some time to get away. Quin’s true skill however, comes from the wide array of surveillances and reconnaissance spells that she has developed to assist in her work. She can even create shapes with her magic by laying her paper dolls into a sheet and folding them into constructs in a style not unlike that of origami art. *'Paper Mimic' – Quin’s signature spell, developed to assist her in both her intelligence gathering and combat. By overlaying a large number of paper dolls on top of one another, Quin is able to create a dummy that can take on the shape of whomever she chooses. A single Shikigami acts as its heart, meaning that it can endlessly regenerate itself until the heart is destroyed. These dummies are able to act on their own for a short time and even carry out basic orders, however they cannot think or talk by themselves. Quin most often uses the dummy created with this spell to infiltrate places that she would otherwise be turned away from, combining this with her “Recorder” spell to gather intelligence on what the dummy sees and hears. In combat, Quin can make copies of herself to confuse opponents and buy time to make a quick escape. While possessing only average strength, they’re ability to regenerate themselves and reshape into Quin’s other attacks on the fly make them an invaluable tool in her arsenal. Currently, Quin is able to sustain up to six at one time before her magic starts to run low. *'Radio' – A basic use of Shikigami Magic that allows Quin to communicate over long distances using her paper dolls as a medium. The range of this spell allows her to communicate with anyone within Bantia; however like anything else, the quality of the reception will go down as the distance between the two party’s increases. Quin will also make use of this spell to listen in on the conversations of a person of interest. Taking notes and gathering evidence from what could be a city away. *'Recorder' – Another reconnaissance type spell that Quin uses to spy on people though a sort of video surveillance. Just as small as a regular paper doll, Quin can position it out of sight and at the perfect vantage point to witness crimes as they happen. On her end, Quin attaches another doll to a blank piece of paper to act as a monitor to receive visuals. Additionally, Quin can use this method to take still pictures to gather photographic evidence in real time. She achieves this by removing the paper from the doll acting as a receiver at the moment she wants to capture, imprinting the paper with the last image it received. While seemingly more useful than her Radio spell, the effective range of this spell is significantly limited in comparison. Quin has to remain within a mile of a “Recorder” doll to be able to see what it sees, or she will get nothing but static. *'Tracker' – A simple but effective technique that enables Quin to keep tabs on subjects by attaching a paper doll to them that reports on their whereabouts. Its range is equal to that of her “Radio” spell, though it requires not even half the magic of the former to cast. Quin is then able to keep track of them with the help of a highlighted map of her surroundings created in a similar fashion to the monitor created for her “Recorder” Spell. Should she need to, Quin can use another paper doll to home in on the tracker and simply follow it back to a target. This method can be useful in leading others to a person of interest when she herself is not present, or to save time in an area that is difficult to navigate with a map. *'Courier' – A spell Quin developed to send quick messages between herself and other council members, or signal for help should she find herself in over her head. She summons it by having her paper dolls fold into an origami shape that resembles a bird with two tales, somewhat like a swallow. It can travel up to forty miles an hour and be used to carry messages and deliver information between multiple people in a very short time. Quin can also create a much bigger version of this spell to ride on, though at the cost of taking longer to prepare and a top speed that is roughly one quarter of the smaller version. Additonaly, its large size coupled with its rather frail material make it rather vulnerable to attack. Despite these numerous shortcomings, Quin finds it an invaluable tool in keeping herself out of an opponent’s reach. *'Lock' – A sealing type spell that Quin developed to close doors and windows in an attempt to escape from pursuers. With it, she will lay her paper dolls over a frame of a closed entrance to make it more difficult to open. It won’t make any entrances harder to damage however, only only acting as a block to make them more difficult to open. Its combat application is to have it lay over a weapon still in its holster or sheath, preventing them from being drawn until the seal is removed. *'Heavy Torrent' – One of Quin’s few purely offensive spells. She will summon up a stream of her paper dolls to wash over opponents in a flurry of attacks. Though capable of making small cut’s with their edges, this spells main capability lies in what it does after Quin’s dolls make contact with an opponent. Once this happens, the dolls will adhere to the person in question, slowly building up as the barrage continues. These act to slow down opponents and restrict movements as the dolls pile over top of one another, gradually making it harder for them to move until they become too fatigued to fight back. This is Quin’s preferred method when someone attempts to resist arrest, rather than simply beating them into submission. *'Sliver Fish' – A long ranged attack Quin can fall back on should an opponent overcome her “Heavy Torrent” spell. She will have her Paper Dolls fold themselves into a number of fish shaped origami shapes with razor sharp fins and pointed mouths. Quin is able to launch these as arrowheads to pierce and cut opponents, flying in formation to make several passes at opponents. Quin can create large swarms of this spell to handle groups of enemys, or overwhelm a single opponent with a flurry of slashes. While useful, they are fairly fragile and can’t do much against armor clad opponents. *'Shooter Drone' – Another long range attack that provides a hefty boost in firepower at the cost of taking longer to prepare. After summoning a number of paper dolls, they will arrange themselves into a circle with a cross on the inside not unlike that of the crosshairs on a gun. From here, Quin is able to give the spell’s new form instructions and fire magic lasers from the center of the cross. While small, each blast has the power equivalent of a gunshot and can be fired in rapid succession. By creating multiples of this spell, Quin can create a vast network of attacks and fire from all different directions. Each drone can act independently for a short while, and Quin can even build her communication dolls into them to monitor their progress herself. Currently Quin is able to create a maximum of eight drones at once, and can even hide them under her clothes because of their flat profile to make surprise attacks should she find herself in a pinch. Highly Observational For her to become successful as a reporter in her early life, Quin learned to observe and interpret her surroundings with a very high degree of skill. This transitioned well into her new job at the Magic Council, allowing her to look over a crime scene and use deductive logic to uncover passed events and crimes. Moreover, she is able to carefully watch speech patterns to keep track of inconsistencies and can even observe a person’s body language when conversing with them to tell if they are being truthful or not. Quin’s observational skills can aid her in combat as well, picking up patterns in an opponent’s movements and watching for weaknesses that can be exploited in the midst of a battle. High Magic Power Reserves Natural for one able to attain a high rank within the magic council, Quin possesses a high level of magic to call upon. Because of the simplistic nature of her magic she is able to summon a seemingly endless number of paper dolls to her side, even if her attack spells are somewhat limited in power. Because she is not as active in her duties as those of the Administration or Rung Knight divisions, Quin has never taken to using her power as a means to intimidate others, nor has she ever had the need to. Yog Longshaw, head of the branches Rune Knights, has commented that she possesses magic power comparable to that of a low level S-Class mage, however her lack of fighting skill bumps her down to an A-rank level at best. Highly Skilled Acrobat While not that durable herself, Quin has adapted to boost her mobility so that she is harder to pin down. She incorporates a number of cartwheels, backflips, and rolling dives to evade hazards in combat, but also to quickly put distance between herself and her opponents to make sure she is not drawn into a battle of physical strength. Should an enemy get to close, Quin relies on the momentum of her movements to add power to her strikes as a last resort; as she is very easily overwhelmed by faster or stronger combatants. Incredible Stamina Because her magic offers very little in the form of offence or defence, Quin has often had to fall back on a very simple rule in nature; those who run away often survive. To aid her in this, Quin has drained herself to be highly mobile to ensure she is able to get out of any sticky situation she may find herself in. Quin is able to outpace most average people she encounters and relies on her magic to carry her away from those who might be faster than she. Stats Category:Human Category:Mage Category:Mages Category:Caster-Mage Category:Caster-Mages Category:Female Category:Females Category:Magic Council Category:Character Category:Characters Category:Original Character Category:Original Characters